The Devil's Best Friend
by rocketstar
Summary: 1953. Casey Cook was falling into the brink of despair until a man sat downside beside her and offered to buy her a drink. Casey never imagined that she'd meet the devil and like him, but there was something about Klaus. Enough so to keep her around for fifty odd years... Let alone fall in love with his brother.
1. Chapter 1

She sat alone at the far end of a smokey and somewhat crowded bar, very much keeping to herself and trying not to draw attention to herself as she slowly sipped her single malt scotch. Bored was the only way to accurately describe how Casey Cook was currently feeling despite being surrounded by countless people, who were drinking, smoking, laughing and having good time. People around her were falling in love and yet all Casey could do was aimlessly stare ahead of her. Casey was bored and it was just because of where she was, as her state of boredom was something of a constant thing. Casey was bored of 1953, she was bored of her life, people in general and everything less that came along. No one seemed to understand her, everyone put Casey's boredom because she had grown up during the Second World War and was still having a hard time readjusting, eight years after the war had ended. Casey wasn't messed up because of the war, sure it had been pretty intense growing up in London during the war before she had been evacuated. It hadn't been a picnic but Casey had dealt with it. Casey wasn't bored because she missed the excitement of the war, she was bored because everything in her life was so damn boring and she was stifled by it. There was so much expectations on her, everyone expected Casey to live a certain way and stick to some plan which she didn't want. Her life was trivial and worthless, she was expected to attend fancy parties, schmooze and rub shoulders with royalty, aristocrats and other wealthy families. From there she would no doubt meet some handsome and incredibly wealthy man who would sweep Casey off her feet and then would marry and live happily ever after after having a few children. That was what was expected for girls of Casey's age and she wanted nothing to do with that. Casey wanted no part of it. She wanted to have her own life, be free of the constrictions that were placed on women in this day and age. The idea of being a homemaker made Casey want to jump into the Thames.

Draining the remains of her drink, Casey placed the glass back on the bar and couldn't help but sigh. She wasn't supposed to be here, she was supposed to be having dinner with her father Rupert and her god awful stepmother Gretchen plus whichever suitor her step mother sought fit to invite for dinner. Casey had made it clear plenty of times that she had no intention of ever marrying but it seemed to fall on deaf ears. The more she seemed to dismiss the prospect of her ever getting married, the harder her stepmother seemed to try to marry her off. It was all very tiresome but Casey was adamant that she was never going to be wed, to be dictated by some man who thought he knew better than her. Casey wanted more from her life than what others had planned for her. She wanted to know what it meant to truly live, Casey wanted to have adventures of her own, to run down the streets of Paris with the wind in her hair. Her father refused to send Casey to Paris, in fears that she would fall in love with a foreigner and never return, despite Casey telling her father that such a thing would never happen as she wasn't one of those naive doe eyed girls who fell head over heels in love at a drop of a hat. Bit nobody ever listened to her anymore, all they took any notice of was her face and the fact that she wasn't married even at the age of 22. If only her stepmother could see her now, Gretchen would probably die or shock and utter some nonsense about Casey bringing disgrace to the family name. Catching the eye of the bartender, Casey motioned to him for a refill and as she did she noticed from the corner of her that a man came and took a seat on the stool next to her.

"Bartender I'll have the same as what the beautiful lady is having and put it on my tab."

"I appreciated the offer but the lady can buy her own drinks and will continue to do so. Thank you anyway." Casey politely replied with a small smile as she pulled out a crisp ten pound note from her purse and placed it on the bar. As she did Casey was very much aware that the stranger to the left of her was staring at her. At first Casey ignored him and took a slow and careful sip of her drink, keeping her eyes straight ahead at the drinks that were behind the bar as she had no interest in engaging this man in any kind of conversation as he was no doubt like every other man she had come across. However after five excruciatingly long minutes and finishing off another single malt, Casey turned to the man in hopes that if she entertained him for a few minutes then he would finally leave her alone. To Casey's surprise he wasn't what she was expecting. She had expected someone a little less clean cut and a man who oozed with sleaziness. However this was not the case, the man next to her was very well refined wearing a suit that given by how well to was made, could only have come from one of the tailors on Saville Row. He has short curly light brown eyes and light blue eyes that seemed to have a little twinkle in them. The man was handsome, there was no doubt about that but not Casey's type. He looked just like the men who her stepmother tried to marry her off to, whereas Casey preferred men with flaws and less refinement as they were less likely to being looking for a wife. "Can I help you Sir or are you just going to spend the rest of the night staring at me? Because I'll tell you now, that no matter how many drinks you offer to buy me, I will not be going home with you."

"Just wondering what on earth a woman who clearly can afford to be shopping in Dior is doing in such an establishment such as this one?" The man asked in a nonchalant but amused tone of voice and Casey found herself smiling as she glanced down at her Dior pumps as the man did have her there. For someone like Casey or rather Lady Cassandra Cook if you went by her full name and title. A some what sleazy bar in Clapham was the last place you'd find a girl who grew up coming and going from the ancestral home in Wiltshire to the house in Kensington. Women like Casey Cook did not spent their time in places like Clapham, which was part of the appeal for Casey. It was something different, a far cry from her life which she bored of. Casey came to places like this in order to try and feel some kind of excitement again. No luck yet, Casey still felt like she was living a mundane life which wasn't going anywhere.

"Looking for a bit of excitement for my inner hedonist, something that I can't get in Selfridges or in Chelsea." Casey allowed herself to admit with a wry smile as being in a place so diverse like these, so unlike anything she was used to, made Casey feel slightly better. But Casey was starting to realise that no matter where was, she felt nothing except boredom. Going to different parts of London and mixing with all sorts of people from different background wasn't helping at all. Life was still boring for Casey, lacking in any real excitement. She knew all of this made her sound like some kind of spoilt brat, here she had everything she wanted in life; a father who loved her, a nice home, money and a occasional part time job working in a boutique that her godmother owned. Casey's life was pretty great on paper. But in reality it wasn't as great. "What about you? Most men here could only dream of owning a suit with a cut like yours. If I'm not corrected Andrew Hutchins made that suit."

"Very impressive."

"Not really." Casey replied with a small and weary laugh. "You haven't answered my question you know? About why someone like you is in a place like this. I told you why I was here so I think it's only fair that you tell me."

"Looking for stimulating conversation."

"So is this the part where you warn me that it's too dangerous for a girl like me to be in an establishment like this? That my soul will be corrupted by being in a place like this surrounded by people of loose morals who like to drink a conspicuous amount of alcohol?" Casey asked as the music that had been playing in the bar came to a stop much to the dismay of the patrons further up along the bar.

"I don't think I need to do anything of the such, you seem to be handling yourself perfectly fine. Since we've been talking for a while, would I be able to get a name? I promise I have no other intention than knowing the name of my drinking companion."

"Cassandra, but I much prefer to be addressed as Casey. No offence to my great grandmother who I was named after but I don't believe I suit Cassandra if I'm honest." Casey stated in a polite manner, unable to quite believe that she was talking to this man. Let alone giving him her name but there was something about him. He had this roguish charm about him and like Casey, he looked like he didn't belong here.

"Pleasure is all mine Casey, I'm Klaus."

"Nice to meet you Klaus." Casey replied with a genuine smile.

"Tell me Casey, have you come across anyone who is capable of having a somewhat decent and interesting conversation with? Other than yourself..." Klaus questioned and Casey couldn't help but laugh as her new friend was so asking the wrong person. As she couldn't remember the last time she had met someone who she had deemed interesting enough. Most people who Casey knew of or had met, were somewhat involved in her parents vast social circle. A lot of them were small minded people were rather vapid and obsessed with climbing the social ladder. There was only one person who had really made the world seem alive to Casey and that had been Freddie. But he was gone now and had been for a while.

"Depends on your definition of interesting but so far I've been propositioned twice and been proposed to a further three times. Not exactly what I would call interesting or stimulating." Casey quipped in response before letting out a weary laugh as she glanced back at her empty glass. These days alcohol seemed to be her only real friend.

"Care to expand?" Klaus asked.

"Look at me and tell me what you see? No, let me do the honours... You see a pretty young woman, without what you could define as being an English rose. Long honey blonde hair and rich brown eyes, tall and graceful. Born into a wealthy family and that's all people see me as, a pretty girl who is only useful for being married off and producing children for some entitled moron. People don't care about who I am inside and what I think, I am just seen as some sort of commodity but that's the society we live in. All the girls who I went to school with are all married now with small children and people look down at me because I don't want to conform to that. It's 1953 and yet this world and the expectations are boring me. This life is boring, there's no adventure or twist and turns just predictability. People work until they die, do the same job everyday to pay the bills and feed the family. Life is not interesting, people grow up, get married, have kids then die. What is so interesting about that? Why does my life have to be defined by that?" Casey questioned as Klaus slid over another glass of scotch towards her which Casey willingly took.

"It doesn't have to be you know, you could always do something about it." Klaus stayed and Casey laughed. That was a good one.

"I tried. One day, about a year ago I packed my bags and ran away. I went to Brighton as I've always found it romantic in an odd way. It took my father three days and about half the London police to track me down." Casey grimly explained as there was no way that she could runaway without no one caring given who her father was. Each time she had tried to leave, her father brought her back. No matter how hard she tried, Casey couldn't escape this life.

"Maybe you didn't go far enough, you know there is a vast world outside these four walls. You shouldn't confine yourself to such a small place when there is a world to be explored." Klaus said in a warm manner which Casey was surprise by. Her first impression of Klaus had been so wrong, he wasn't like most men. There seemed to be no motive as to what he was doing, he just seemed to want to have a conversation.

"Trust me I am well aware of that Klaus and there is nothing more that I would want. I don't want what everyone else wants, I don't want to be like those girls who I went to school with who put their dreams on hold to conform to society and their expectations. I want to live a life that is exciting and fresh, one that doesn't confine me to social standards. I don't want to be a mother or wife as selfish as it sounds-"

"-I assure you Cassandra it's not, in fact it's rather refreshing to hear someone of your age and generation speaking so refreshingly about your wants and desires. It's not selfish to a want a life that makes you happy. A life in which you are free to so whatever you want. Trust me when I say it is to die for." Klaus stated and Casey couldn't help but smile as she never met someone who had shared her way of thinking until now. A chance encounter in a bar in Clapham.

"My age? You barely look much older than myself." Casey couldn't help but note as the way Klaus had been taking about himself, it was like he was much older than her.

"What if I told you that I was a vampire? One of the eldest and most powerful vampires in existence. An original as some refer to me as." Klaus announced and Casey couldn't help bit scoff in amusement as she took a large gulp of her drink. That was funny. It was a good one.

"I would say that you've had too much to drink." Casey retorted.

"What if I could prove it? Then make you a very interesting offer? One that would mean that you would never have to worry about getting married, conforming to what society wants you to think. You'll be able to do whatever you want, go wherever you want whenever you want and never have to worry about anything again." Klaus retorted in a challenging manner and Casey couldn't help but be intrigued by Klaus, by his offer and the mischievous twinkle in his eye.

Casey found herself no longer being bored.


	2. Chapter 2

_Casey couldn't help but tilt her head in amusement as she watched the man sitting across from her take a sip of his glass of champagne, the man who introduced himself to her as Klaus and announced that he was a vampire in the middle of a crowded bar in Clapham. Ten hours ago Casey believed that she as sitting next to a man who was trying to proposition her and now she was sitting across from him in the Ritz having breakfast with a vampire. An original vampire nonetheless. Klaus had kept to his word about proving that he was a vampire and then some, he had shown Casey that there was much more to the world than she could even imagine and he had offered to show her it. Klaus had offered her a chance to walk away from her current life, a life that she was bored of and felt constrained by societies expectations and start a new life where she could be free to do whatever she wanted and live the life that Casey wanted to live. Naturally inquisitive Casey had wanted to know more and she had ended up spending the night talking with Klaus, finding out everything she could about his life as a vampire who was close to a 1000 years old yet he looked only a few years older than her. Casey's mundane had seemingly taken a very interesting turn, so much so that she invited the vampire Klaus for breakfast at the Ritz. Klaus was unlike the vampires that Casey had read about in books, he seemed to cast away all the stereotypes that were commonly associated with vampires. There seemed to be this entire world that Casey knew nothing about until now, Klaus was offering to let her become part of his world; he was offering to turn her into a vampire. Casey hadn't been expecting such an offer and she had to admit that it was rather tempting, by the stories that Klaus has been telling her all night he lived a live free of responsibilities. He had no need to worry about social status, finding a wife who came from a family with money. His life was his own to control and that's what he seemed to be doing. Casey was very much impressed by Klaus, he was cool, collected and very much charming with very little effort._

_"What's so amusing Casey?" Klaus asked as he finally noticed the smile on Casey's face which had been carefully hidden behind her cup of tea that was resting just by her lips. This whole thing was so surreal but Casey had never felt more alive before today. Looking across the table, Casey was still in some disbelief over Klaus. Sure he had proved that he was a vampire but Casey was amazed that Klaus was as old as he said he was. You would never tell as Klaus dressed the right way, spoke the right and behaved like a English gentleman with a somewhat dark sense of humour._

_"I've had tea with countless people over the years even with royalty but I have never had breakfast at the Ritz with a vampire." Casey couldn't help but explain with a small smile as she glanced around the room. The people all around them were seemingly unaware that they were in the company of one of the eldest vampires in existence. It was a surreal experience. Casey was definitely never going to forget this experience, it would be something that she would remember for the rest of her life. 1953 was definitely going to be a year that Casey wouldn't forget._

_"I'd get used to it if I were you Casey, if you are going to be a vampire after all." Klaus stated and Casey couldn't help but feel her cheeks start to burn. As even though Klaus had offered to turn her into a vampire, to give Casey the opportunity to live a life she wanted. Casey hadn't accepted it yet as although the offer was tempting, it did however require her to give up this life. The people who mattered to her most such as her father and brother. Casey couldn't make this decision on a whim._

_"I haven't agreed to anything yet Klaus." Casey couldn't help but point out before taking a sip of her tea._

_"Yes you have otherwise you wouldn't be here Cassandra." Klaus retorted and Casey felt a small tug at the corner of her mouth. Klaus was a quick one, she'd give him that. Casey was fast learning that there was more to Klaus then what met the eye. No doubt Klaus was not the kind of company that her stepmother would want to bring home. Casey was enjoying this whole experience with every passing moment, never before had she felt so amused and entertained by her life. It was funny how it only took one person to shake everything up._

_"Cassandra Cook! We thought that was you, no one else has hair that thick and freckles so perfectly placed!"_

_At the sound of her full name practically being barked across the dining room of the The Ritz, Casey couldn't help but frown as she would recognise that foghorn voice anywhere. It was Helena Ferris, a fearfully loud and pretty much boring woman who Casey had gone to boarding school with. Casey saw that Helena wasn't alone, she was with Beatrice Moyer, a frightfully beautiful girl with little more to offer besides being one of the biggest gossips Casey knew. They really were the last people that Casey wanted to see at this current time._

_"Friends of yours?" Klaus couldn't help but question as Casey watched as the aforementioned friends were continuing to make their way over._

_"Something like that..." Casey grimly murmured in response as she wouldn't exactly call Helena or Beatrice friends of hers before forcing a smile onto her face. "Helena! Beatrice! So good to see you again, it seems like it's been forever since we last saw each other."_

_"Indeed! I was just saying to Beatrice here that it's been forever since we were all together. I think the last time I saw you, it was at Emily Winthrop's wedding reception a year ago." Helena barked and Casey slowly nodded her head, as the quicker she engaged with the small talk, then hopefully the quicker this conversation would be over. It took Casey a moment to realise that Helena and Beatrice's beady little eyes were now very much focused on Klaus and clearly they were waiting for an introduction to be made, in the middle of The Ritz nonetheless!_

_"Oh forgive me! Klaus I'd like you to meet Helena Ferris and Beatrice Moyer, we all went to boarding school together... Helena and Beatrice this is Klaus, he's a... He's my friend." Casey began making the introductions, unfortunately for her she wasn't exactly sure how on earth she was supposed to introduce someone like Klaus. So Casey used the word friend to describe and used it so loosely that it was clear by the way Helena's eyes lit up that she had got the wrong end of the stick and assumed that the two of them were together. Which they were not._

_"Is that so? How wonderful! It's so fantastic that you finally found someone for yourself after that boy of yours... What was his name again Cassandra? It was something so common..." Beatrice questioned, gleefully ecstatic that she would have some gossip to pass around at the next party. Casey's jaw hardened instantly as a stroll down memory lane was not something that she really wanted to take part in. _

_"Freddie." Casey allowed herself to admit after a moment before swapping her cup of tea for a long gulp of champagne. Casey just wanted the ground to swallow her whole in this moment. She couldn't believe that her supposed friends were bringing this up. Casey didn't want to talk about Freddie, she never wanted him to mentioned. It still hurt way too much for her to ever be comfortable to talk about him._

_"Yes that was it. Freddie, gosh you were terribly in over your head with him weren't you?" Helena stated and Casey just took another sip of her champagne. Thing were just going from bad to worse and everyone else seemed to be enjoying what was going on._

_"Cassandra in love? Is that so? I never would have guessed, I can't imagine her being over her head over someone..." Klaus slowly drawled and Casey glared at him as her new companion was clearly enjoying all of this. Whereas Casey would rather not, she knew she should have put a stop to all of this by now. But she couldn't, now when Freddie was mentioned. Even after all this time she still faltered when it came to him. She had loved him so much, she still did. He had been her first love. They had met when she was twenty and had met by chance encounter, Casey had gotten distracted and ended up walking to Freddie who was by all accounts a Ted. He was the most polite and well mannered Teddy's boy that Casey had ever come across. She fell in love. The rich girl fell in love with the poor by. The rest was pretty much self explanatory. They managed to last a whole year before things ended. For the best is what everyone else said, Casey didn't understand. She loved Freddie or FTD as her brother Spencer called him, Fred the Ted._

_"Indeed! But if anyone was going to fall in love with a ted then it would be Cassandra!" Beatrice stated with a chuckle and Casey didn't even bat an eyelid as she was used to such vapid and ignorant comments like this. "I do believe that it was The Evening Standard who wrote that Cassandra Cook was the only girl in London who could wear Dior, quote Shakespeare off the top of her head on any occasion and talk to the Teds!"_

_"I'm not surprised, Cassandra is a woman of many talents. She never fails to surprise me." Klaus replied in a charming manner and offering Casey a smile who was trying her hardest to smile. Klaus was talking as if the two of them were old friends, when in fact they had known each other for just over 10 hours. Casey could only imagine Helena and Beatrice's reaction if they found out that information. It made her half tempted to tell them._

_"Well we should probably let you two lovebirds get back to your meal. It was nice to meet you Klaus and wonderful to see you again Cassandra! We mustn't leave it so long next time!" Helena quipped in a loud tone of voice before exiting the dining room in a loud manner with Beatrice following behind. Casey couldn't help but let out a sigh as those two girls were like a hurricane, came out of nowhere and destroyed everything in sight before moving on to it's next target._

_"A ted, really?"_

_"You see what I'm dealing with Klaus? It's hellish I tell you..."_

* * *

Bang bang. The sound of someone banging repeatedly on her apartment door woke up Casey from the semi deep slumber that she was in. Wearily glancing at her alarm clock on the bedside table, Casey read the time as being 10:27am. She had no idea who on earth was banging on her door at this hour but whoever they were could go away. Turning over in bed, Casey was fully prepared to go back to sleep but unfortunately for her the banging kept continuing and so with much reluctance Casey got up. After dragging herself out of bed, Casey walked out of her bedroom and made her way through her apartment until she reached the front door. Groggily opening the door, Casey was surprised yet not surprised to see Klaus standing on the other side of the door, with his trademark smirk on his face, flanked with his two witches Maddox and Greta. Fifty six years Casey had known Klaus and still she wasn't used to him dropping by unannounced.

"Hello Casey." Klaus greeted in a polite manner, his face unchanged from that night back in 1953 when Casey met him in that bar in Clapham.

"Gosh you need a haircut." Casey dryly quipped in response as she opened the door further to allow Klaus and his minions in. As much as Casey wished that Klaus wouldn't show up to her apartment with his groupies, Casey knew he had his reasons. Klaus was paranoid, well that was an understatement as Klaus was one of the most paranoid people that Casey knew. He trusted few people accept those in his inner circle and Casey was one of those lucky few.

"It's good to see you too Cassandra." Klaus retorted and Casey couldn't help grin as by now Klaus knew better to expect a proper greeting when he turned up unannounced after three months and waking her up by noisily banging on the door. If Casey mentioned this, Klaus would make some comment about he wouldn't have to make so much noise of Casey just gave him a key. But Casey knew better than that, Klaus was one of the nosiest people she had ever come across. Which is why the two of them had boundaries. "We need to talk Casey..."

"Of course we do but your monkeys have got to stay here..." Casey responded referring to the two witches before waking off back in the direction of her bedroom, taking note of Klaus' footsteps behind her. The walk was very much silence and once Casey arrived back to her bedroom she climbed back into her wrought iron bed and got herself comfortable before turning her attention over to Klaus who always looked so out of place in Casey's all white apartment. He was a stark contrast. Klaus was dark, he had a pretty dark side. He was volatile, quick to temper and prone to lashing out and someone who you didn't want to anger or get in his way. Casey had seen that first hand over the years. It should have scared her away but it didn't. When Klaus had turned her all those decades ago, he had taught Casey not to be ashamed of who she was and what she wanted. Klaus was still the charmingly and roguish man she had met that night in the bar but he was complicated just like her. Klaus was the devil in some ways and Casey enjoyed his company. Klaus made life interesting even it wasn't in the most conventional ways.

"Sometimes I wonder why I turned you into a vampire Casey as you seem to spend am awful amount of time on bed despite the fact that you technically don't need to sleep."

"You turned me Klaus because you found me to be a rather delightful and intriguing company. The fact I so willingly agreed and was English aristocracy helped..." Casey idly explained as Klaus came over and laid on top of the covers. Casey couldn't help but note that Klaus looked tired, no doubt he was pushing himself when it come to this damn curse that he wanted to break so much. Casey didn't know the specific details but she knew that Klaus had come close to breaking it five hundred years ago and then everything went wrong. It was something to do with a doppelgänger and now Klaus was obsessed with finding this Katerina Petrova and making her pay. Not by killing her as Casey had learnt that Klaus didn't believe in killing when it came to making people suffer. That was too good for them. It was Klaus' little traits as Casey referred to them as, the unstable parts of his personality.

"Indeed."

"Now what's with the visit? Not that I'm not pleased to see you but normally you don't bring the stooges with you unless it's something important. I do hope it's not another vampire hunter wanting us dead because after what happened last time, it's a bit too soon for my liking to have another hunter wanting out heads on a pike. I'm pretty sure that it's impossible for us to return to Michigan in this lifetime..." Casey idly stated recounting a time when the two of them had been on the run from a pair of vampire hunters about twenty years ago. Pretty nasty ones who were adamant about killing them both.

"It's not that, I need your help with something Cassandra. There is a town called Mystic Falls and I need you to go there."

"Niklaus may I remind you yet again that I am your friend, your only friend in fact and not one of your minions." Casey retorted using Klaus' first name in full to remind him on the boundaries in which they had in place. Casey wasn't one the vampires who served him. She wasn't wax lyrical about him being an original, just because Klaus was an original it didn't mean that Casey was going to blindly serve him like he was some kind of king. Casey was more anarchy then monarchy these days. She was Klaus' friend and that was it. Sure she tagged along with him over the years but she didn't do orders. They had been friends when Klaus had turned Casey and things had stayed that way. Casey likes to think of herself as the person who could get Klaus to lighten up and relax when he was in that dark and creepy place when he was majorly obsessing with this curse of his.

"Casey..." Klaus began with a look on his face that Casey couldn't decipher.

"Why me? You have dozens of vampires at your finger tips and willing to do whatever you want. I'm sure any of them would be willing to help you out and they would do it without any smart ass response or back chat."

"I need someone I can trust to do this, please Casey. It's to do the doppelgänger." Klaus softly said and Casey wasn't expecting that. Klaus saying please, that it as the doppelgänger was also a bit of a surprise. But mostly the please part as Klaus didn't tend to use the word much, unless he was trying to charm something or telling someone that it was not in their best interest to annoy them. Casey looked over at Klaus and into his blue eyes, these last fifty years he had kept his word and showed Casey everything that he promised he would. Things that she never would have dreamed were possible and giving her the freedom she had always dreamed of. Although it had taken sometime to adjust to being a vampire and the whole blood drinking thing. Klaus had never asked her to do something like this before and they both knew that she owed him which is why she was going to say yes.

"Fine. I'll go to this town."

"Cassandra Cook, have I ever told you that you are the best friend a man or vampire could ever have?" Klaus questioned with a huge self assured smirk on his face, no doubt pleased that things were yet again going his way.

"No but I figured that it was a given since I am your only best friend you moron."


End file.
